Slickville was one of the last coal company towns to be built in Westmoreland County, Pa. The Cambria Iron Company built the town
and coal mine beginning in 1916. Construction of the houses continued through 1922. Slickville was named after Edwin Slick. He was vice president of Midvale Steel Co., the
parent company of Cambria Iron. Approximately 500 coal miners worked the Slickville mines in the 1920s. After 1923 the mine operator was
named Bethlehem Mines Corporation (Bethlehem Steel purchased Cambria Iron). The Slickville mines became Bethlehem Mine No. 91. The coal went to the coke
ovens in Johnstown, Pa. Bethlehem closed the Slickville mines in 1943.
May 2003 image by author
Attractive two-family patch housing at the "model" coal company town of Slickville. These "model" coal towns were built by the Coal and Steel companies
during the last few decades of the coal and coke company town era to provide a more pleasant and habitable
community for its employees and their families. It was also supposed to placate the employees to the point that they would think they wouldn't need the UMWA.
May 2003 image by author
A different style of company house at Slickville.May 2003 image by author
The commissary (company store) stands abandoned at Slickville, Pa. It was operated under the name Miners' Supply Company,
the retail subsidiary of the coal company. In later years, it operated as a mom-and-pop store.
May 2003 image by author
Slickville slate dump.Google Street View image
Remaining former mine repair shop. Just down the road from this structure, the mine office building (repurposed as a residence) and another former shop building remain into the 21st century.March 2020 image by author
Holy Ghost Orthodox Church at Slickville.
Sources:
Fitzsimons, Gray, editor. Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania - An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites. National Park Service, 1994.
